Study of Adolescent Neural Development (SAND)

We have just finished age 15 data collection on the Study of Adolescent Neural Development (SAND, aka the Adolescent Wellbeing and Brain Development Study). This study followed-up with 237 families in the Detroit, Toledo, and Chicago areas that had previously participated in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) when youth were 15 years old. These children have been followed since birth and visited the University of Michigan at age 15 for a day. The goal of the study is to better understand how the context in which teens lives affects brain structure and function and their behavior. One of the major aims of this study is to better understand how poverty affects children and families and puts teens at risk for poor behavioral and psychiatric outcomes. Families visited us and participated in an MRI session, psychiatric interviews, biomarker data (e.g., stress-evoked cortisol), family interactions, and provided their perspective via self-reports from the teen and parent. This study is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH10376; PI: Chris Monk) and is a collaboration with Chris Monk, Colter Mitchell, and Nestor Lopez-Duran at Michigan, as well as the investigators of the FFCWS. We are currently following-up with teens and families as the teens turn 17 years old.